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november in bergen

Hello! It has been awhile since I last posted! I am currently writing from Bergen, Norway where I am living with Øistein. Bergen is a beautiful town, and our apartment is nestled on the hillside surrounding the city. The picture below is a view from our window.

The area is beautiful! Rolling mountains, fjords, islands and lots of cute Norsk houses. On Wednesday the sun came out for a gorgeous day so I took the opportunity to take a hike in the mountains above our house. Surprisingly, although Bergen is at a northern latitude (about the same as Anchorage), the weather here is relatively mild with rain 285 days a year. It apparently never snows, but frost frequents in the morning. I went out with hat and gloves on but was soon hiking in only one layer-- in the middle of November! I met a few other hikers along the way... we commented on the wonderful weather. The Bergenites certainly get credit for enjoying the sun when it does come out! :) Actually, the weather for the past 2 weeks has been really nice (needless to say you should always bring an umbrella).

This weekend I am headed to Røros to celebrate a pseudo Thanksgiving with my host family. I am looking forward to relaxing in a winter climate, hopefully some skiing is in order! :) Until next time....

Thanks AYEA

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Originally uploaded by Alaska Youth for Environmental Action

Here am I with one of the awesome AYEA Peer Leaders, Daria! Thanks everyone for this great poster. I miss you all!

To Hillary and Hillary Supporters:

I am a young Alaskan female voter and supporter of Hillary since 3rd grade. McCain's recent choice for VP of Alaskan governor Sarah Palin outrages me! If the Republican party thinks that Hillary supporters will switch their support to SARAH because she is a woman they ARE WRONG. I supported Hillary because of her policies, her experience, her leadership. Those of us who live in Alaska know that Sarah Palin has NONE OF THIS IN COMMON WITH HILLARY. The ONLY thing that Palin and Clinton have in common is that they are female. Will female voters of America be so dumb as to only choose someone because of their sex? I hope not. Hillary and Hillary supporters need to stand up and show them that we supported Hillary because of the ISSUES, and --like Hillary said in her speech-- because of those issues we support OBAMA now. LET'S GET OUT THE WORD AND VOTE.

i am still not entirely convinced of my blog's purpose, so please excuse me if you think it is silly! i think that somewhere along the line it will be useful, and hopefully fun. the only thing i have to report on as of late is a great adventure i took a few weekends ago to the Wrangell/St. Elias National Park. oistein and i set off for Kennicott/McCarthy and had a fantastic time. the hike we took was phenomenal, i would recommend it for anyone able to take the very long journey (potentially flat tire infested) to this gorgeous spot. i have tons of photos, but these are some of my favorites. thanks, oistein for a great trip... i miss you already!

Wow... this is cool....

i think i really like this blogging thing. in fact, i have decided to use it to talk about what's going on in my life. well, right now it may be a little boring (watching PBS with oistein) but sometimes it is fun. lately we have had a few garage break ins by the neighborhood black bears. quite delightlful. AND it snowed last week! which, given that it is only JULY i think is a little scary. personally, i think the bears are rebelling in anger because of climate change.... but nobody believes me. but, seriously, if you were a bear, wouldn't you be pissed it was snowing in july? yeah, that's what i thought. this picture reflects the cold nature of this summer... but hey, whatever, it is alaska. and, as matt says, if it turns out this is NOT the coldest summer on record we will all be a little sad-- i mean, after suffering from the low temps, we deserve the right to be even more hardcore, right?

My First Blog!

so this is my first blog post ever! it is very exciting. i just learned how to use google apps today and then found myself in a very techno mood. thus, i have now started a blog. i have relatively little idea what i will do with this thing, but i think that it could end up being a fun new addition to my life. i am looking forward to more blogging! hurray!